And the rivalry grows... Phillips with a walkoff 2-run HR vs the Cardinals. They were down 5-4 with 2 outs. Brewers down 3-0 in the 6th. Once again, the Pirates can take over 1st place on percentage points.
Ultimately, I think the Reds, Cards and Brew Crew are all better than the Pirates but if the Rockies hold on tonight, The Pittsburgh FREAKING Pirates will be a 1st place club tomorrow morning. Pirates, I think, are a another bat and starter from being truly scary. Wandy would look really nice in a Pirate uniform, pitching in that ball park.
I'm sticking with the Reds and Brewers battling it out down the stretch. I agree about the Pirates. It's just nice in a way to see them in the mix this late in the season. If the Cardinals had Wainwright, I would've seen them as the favorites at this point. I think the Reds will finish strong and barely beat the Brewers in the end.
By the way, congrats on your 1st place Cleveland Indians. I thought they had come down to earth last month but they don't seem to understand they're not suppose to be this good.
Yep, they were overachieving everywhere for the first 45 games or so. They also had a relatively soft schedule. Then the schedule got real and they simultaneously regressed closer to their actual abilities over the next 40 games or so. The offense should be marginally better than it has been recently if and when Sizemore and Santana play to their abilities, Choo comes back and Hafner can stay healthy but they still need another good RHB and there are plenty of questions in the starting rotation. The bullpen has been awesome. Overall, the Indians have a solid amount of young talent between the upper minors and the bigs but they shouldn't be contending yet. The White Sox' and Twins' struggles have helped a lot, too. The Tigers have far and away the best offense in the division but after Verlander, they have plenty of questions in their rotation as well. If they hang on and make the playoffs, great. If not, this was a better than expected season. And I'm also an Astros fan so it's far from all good in the baseball world.
I was at this game. It was an embarrassment. The Astros made Karstens look like Greg Maddux. A pathetic effort tonight by the team.
Agree that the Pirates need another starter. Except for Correia and Maholm, the other starters are reaching or have reached career highs in innings pitched already. Its probably unrealistic to think they will all continue to pitch like they have without getting hurt. Regarding a bat, I'm not sure what they will do. Doumit and Tabata are due back from the DL fairly soon, and Pedro Alvarez is in AAA right now. They could get all three of those guys back in the lineup within a couple of weeks. Rookie Alex Presley is playing too well right now to take out of the lineup. Overbay is a bum, so I could see him sitting/getting released and Garrett Jones platooning at 1B. There is a lot of talk here in Pittsburgh about Carlos Pena, Aramis Ramirez and Carlos Beltran. Those bats would help, but I wouldn't want to see the team give up a lot of prospects. The plan seems to be working right now.
It's a Saturday home game, so at least we have Jeff Bagwell in the booth. I don't think he's ever going to be an every game announcer, but in small doses, I really like him. If nothing else, he's good for a moment of levity or two per game. Plus, it's nice to think about him and the late-90s Dome days of Astros baseball.
